The HSUS Denounces City of Delafield’s Decision to Round-up and Kill Canada Geese

Prior to their roundup and slaughter, a flock of Canada geese called Lake Nagawicka home. Jim Pfeil

Adult geese were separated from their young and captured by USDA's Wildlife Services. Jim Pfeil

Geese young and old were rounded up, packed in crates, then killed. Jim Pfeil

The Humane Society of the United States condemns the recent roundup and killing of Canada geese in Delafield, Wis. The city contracted with U.S. Department of Agriculture’ s Wildlife Services to capture and transport approximately 80 geese and goslings to their death from the city’s Lake Nagawicka.

“The HSUS opposes the practice of rounding up and killing these birds for nuisance problems that can be effectively and humanely solved using other approaches, and for which the punishment of death is simply wrong,” said Lynsey White Dasher, urban wildlife specialist for The HSUS. “This inhumane, ineffective and costly contract is the wrong way to address the goose population.”

In a letter to Mayor Ed McAleer, The HSUS urged the City of Delafield to immediately halt future plans to slaughter geese and to instead implement a comprehensive humane program for resolving conflicts. The HSUS pointed out that far better solutions exist for resolving conflicts with geese, including coating eggs with corn oil to prevent them from hatching and using specially trained dogs and human volunteers to chase geese from targeted areas, teaching the birds to spend their time in areas less populated by humans.

Local resident Jim Pfiel witnessed the roundup and documented it with photos. “The city’s failure to properly oil eggs during nesting season cost these goslings their lives before they could even fly,” Pfiel said. “At this point, they should have just let them live.”

The city of Madison, Wis., has begun to round up and kill 350 geese within the city’s parks, despite the futility and cruelty of this approach.

The HSUS has helped communities across the country set up effective and humane programs that clean up the lakes and public spaces and restore peace within the community.

Photos of the roundup are
available upon request. Please contact Stephanie Twining at (301) 258-1491 or stwining@humanesociety.org.

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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization — backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the Web at humanesociety.org.

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